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Blue Mage (Final Fantasy XI)
Blue Mage is an advanced job added in Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion of Final Fantasy XI. Blue Mages are capable of dealing heavy physical or magical damage, healing and support, debuffing, or tanking. They can learn enemy abilities that either enhance themselves or deter their enemies. The art of Blue Magic originated in the Empire of Aht Urhgan and is primarily practiced by a group of elite assassins and military tacticians known as the Immortals. In spite of their military decoration and praise, the Blue Mages of Vana'diel face an ominous initiation ritual. As living weapons wielded against monsters, the Blue Mage must, in essence, become a monster. By assimilating the essences of fallen fiends into their being, they risk succumbing to the so-called "beast within". Blue Mages derive much of their strength from the blue magic spells they have learned. In particular, their own statistics are affected by the blue magic spells they have "set" for battle. For a more in-depth description, see the abilities page. Becoming a Blue Mage To become a Blue Mage, the player must seek out a mysterious fortune teller named Waoud in Gladiator's Alley, south of Way of the Devout in Aht Urhgan Whitegate. He sees potential in the player and asks a series of questions regarding mortality and the concept of power. If the player gives him the answers he seeks, Waoud gives them vague instructions to fetch an item to heal his bed-ridden mother. After Waoud receives the item, he instructs the player to deliver it to his colleague in the Aydeewa Subterrane. Upon delivery, an Immortal calling himself "Yasfel" reveals that the entire quest was a ruse to test the player's merit. Should the player take his offer to become a Blue Mage, Yasfel knocks them unconscious, telling the player that "Your life... now belongs to the Empress and the Empire." Some hours later, the player awakes in the Imperial Ward, two alchemists and a man resembling Waoud discussing how the player narrowly escaped death after the modifications to their body were made. Waoud, Yasfel and the man in the ward are one and the same and none other than Raubahn, the leader of the Immortals. He congratulates the player on becoming a Blue Mage and surviving the alchemical transfusion, but reveals to the player that they are nothing more than "an empty vessel", and that they must assimilate the essence of fiends to attain greater power. Abilities Job abilities Job traits *Blue Mages possess Monster Radar, causing monsters to appear as red dots on the radar. This trait is shared with Thief, Summoner, Beastmaster, and Ninja. *See Blue Magic Synergy for a list of the currently known available traits. Skill ratings |valign="top"| |} Blue Magic The Blue Magic of Vana'diel possesses many facets. Not only are spells divided between physical and magical in nature, physical spells can additionally carry a damage-type (blunt, piercing or slashing) as well as a skillchain element (liquefaction, fusion, gravitation, etc). Magical spells also carry an elemental affinity (fire, water, ice, etc). These facets pertain to the skillchains a particular spell can participate in under Chain Affinity or Burst Affinity as well as the damage-type and elemental weaknesses of various enemies. In addition, certain blue magic spells also carry a monster affinity; a spell learned from a crab will be aquan-based, which will enhance its accuracy and potency against amorph-family creatures, but will hinder it against birds. This unusual property is unique of Blue Magic and enhanced directly by the merit job trait, Monster Correlation, as well as the Artifact headgear, Magus Keffiyeh. Spell list |valign="top" "width="33%"| |valign="top" "width="33%"| |} Acquiring Blue Magic *Blue Mages have a chance to learn Blue Magic that was used by the monsters they or their allies defeat. *Blue Mage must be set as main job. *The Blue Mage need not be the target of the spell in order to learn it. This includes offensive as well as enhancing or healing spells. *The Blue Mage must have a minimum level of Blue Magic skill to be eligible to learn a spell. The higher the level of the spell, the more Blue Magic skill that is required to learn it. *The Blue Mage cannot be KO'd at the time the enemy is defeated, nor outside of experience points range. *It is possible to learn spells from monsters that are Too Weak for the players' current level. *It is possible to learn Blue Magic from BCNMs, Besieged, Assault and Salvage as long as a player within your alliance lands the final blow on the enemy that used the spell. *It is not possible to learn Blue Magic if a member of the Blue Mage's party or alliance has called-for-help on the enemy. Using Blue Magic *It is not possible to use Blue Magic as soon as it is acquired. Spells that you wish to use must be "set." Depending on which spells are set, the Blue Mage will acquire attribute bonuses and detriments as well as certain job traits. *Each Blue Magic spell is assigned a point value (Blue Magic points), and the sum of Blue Magic points of set spells cannot exceed the maximum number of Blue Magic points currently available. The maximum number of points available for setting spells is determined by the Blue Mage's level and the merit job trait, Assimilation. *The maximum number of Blue Magic spells that can be set as active is determined by the Blue Mage's level. This maximum number may decrease when the Blue Mage is under level restriction so the set numbers are assigned colors for reference. Gameplay Blue Mage is primarily a magic-user class found at the front-line and most frequently played as a damage dealer. Because their physical spells can be enhanced directly by Tactical Points obtained by striking enemies with their swords, Blue Mages have always had strong incentives to equip swords and engage enemies. Previous to the level cap increase, the MP-efficiency and potency of physical blue magic overshadowed magical-based, enfeebling and support spells, but recent gameplay adjustments have allowed Blue Mages to embrace a more back-line function when the situation demands. Due to their extreme versatility, they are able to solo effectively or fill several different party functions as needed. Though they have been historically viewed as MP-dependent and undesirable due to the amount of Tactical Points their spells give to enemies, recent developments have greatly enhanced their standing as damage dealers, nukers, and supporters. Strengths *As the only job that can cast spells that deal physical damage, Blue Mage is able to "zerg" enemies extremely quickly by using MP rather than TP, which must be accumulated by striking the enemy. *Due to the low cast time and MP cost of their physical spells, Blue Mages can generally defeat an enemy many levels above them with relative ease. *Blue Mage possesses a high combat rating in Sword, adding damage-over-time from melee strikes, spike damage from weaponskills and enhanced physical spells using Chain Affinity with their accumulated TP. *Blue Mage has access to the most job traits of any job, which can be customized for individual situations. *The vast majority of blue magic spells carry an attribute bonus or detriment (e.g. STR+2, INT-1), which can allow Blue Mages to tailor their base attributes as well as HP and MP solely by their selection of spells. *Blue Mage possesses some of the most potent, MP-efficient healing and support magic of any job. *Prior to the level cap increase, Blue Mage was one of the only jobs able to create skillchains entirely by themselves. *The spell Head Butt is a near-instant source of stun with an extremely low recast time, making Blue Mages the fastest stunners in the game. Unlike the standard spell, Stun, Head Butt faces 2 accuracy checks: a physical accuracy check that determines whether the spell lands at all, and a magical accuracy check to determine whether the Stun effect processes. Additionally, recent gameplay changes have made monsters gain a powerful resistance to stun when it is used too frequently. *The Thief-specific job abilities, Sneak Attack and Trick Attack, can be used in conjunction with physical blue magic spells, making Thief a common support job choice. *The blue magic spell, Cocoon, can be set as early as level 8 and provides the highest single defense boost. As such, Blue Mage is a situationally useful support job for Paladin and Red Mage. *Blue Mage has access to more sources of Stun, Sleep, and Dispel than any other job, as well as unique elements for their spells, such as light-based Aspir or water-based Bind. *Blue Mage is one of the most effective jobs at dealing both physical and magical damage. This functionality is especially effective for enemies such as Proto-Omega, which can change its resistance to physical or magical damage. *Blue Mage is one of the most effective jobs at dealing multiple types of damage, including slashing, piercing and blunt. This functionality is particularly useful in areas such as Einherjar where the type of enemies that appear is randomly determined. *Due to their balanced combat roles, any number of Blue Mages are capable of tailoring their party functions effectively to suit the situation. A party consisting entirely of Blue Mages can still feature a devoted tank, healer and supporter, damage dealer, and debuffer. *Most recently, adjustments to the Abyssea regions of Vana'diel as well as the introduction of the spell, Charged Whisker, have allowed Blue Mage to become the single most effective job at defeating low-level targets en masse. Due to the nature of Abyssea, defeating as many as 15 enemies simultaneously can yield high EXP and Cruor rewards as well as chests filled with items, time, and EXP if the Blue Mage's Abyssean lights have been built up. *Additionally, within Abyssea regions, Blue Mages are among one of the only jobs able to effectively build each colored light entirely by themselves (azure, amber, ruby, pearlescent). *Recent additions to Blue Mage's job traits and the introduction of the sword weaponskills, Sanguine Blade and Chant du Cygne, have allowed Blue Mages to deal damage with melee strikes and weaponskills more effectively than ever before. Weaknesses *Blue magic must be learned from enemies, some of which reside in remote, dangerous or unlockable locations, and can only be learned when the main job is set to Blue Mage possessing a minimum level of Blue Magic Skill. *learning the blue magic spell is not guaranteed, even when the enemy uses the desired spell in battle. As such, obtaining blue magic can be a very time consuming and frustrating process. *A standard Blue Mage is heavily dependent on their selection of blue magic. As such, a Blue Mage lacking certain spells or low on MP is highly ineffective in combat. The sword weaponskills, Sanguine Blade and Chant du Cygne, have vastly mitigated this weakness. *Blue Mages suffer reduced magical accuracy for their magical spells and the additional effects of their physical spells. However, the introduction of newer, high level equipment has added much-needed magic accuracy to compensate for the use of swords instead of staves. *Because the accuracy of physical blue magic is dependent on the combat rating of their mainhand weapon, Blue Mages face strong disincentives to wield other weapons in which they have less or no combat skill in. *A Blue Mage does not have access to all of their spells because the number of spells that can be "set" at any given time is restricted. *After setting spells, the Blue Mage is completely unable to cast any blue magic spells for a full minute. *The maximum tier of a Blue Mage's native job traits is restricted to 1. Exceptions do exist, however; Blue Mages can attain tier IV of Clear Mind, as well as tier II of Dual Wield. *Blue Mages tend to generate a high level of enmity by rapidly casting damaging and healing spells, which can cause them to draw the attention of the enemy. *Physical blue magic spells deal 10 Tactical Points to the enemy for each time the spell hits. Thus, spells that hit several times, such as Disseverment, give the enemy a lot of TP, effectively allowing it to use its unique abilities much quicker than it would otherwise. *Physical blue magic can still miss, but receives no natural accuracy bonus and is unaffected by statistics such as critical hit rate and double attack. *Magical blue magic cannot be magic bursted without the the job ability, Burst Affinity, which can only be used once every 2 minutes. *A vast majority of magical blue magic spells are applied to an area, which can occasionally catch undesired targets in their area-of-effect. *Though Blue Mages are often played as front-line damage dealers, they are restricted to light armor and are dependent on support spells such as Utsusemi to mitigate damage from area-of-effect attacks. *Blue Mages have relatively low max MP, which is further exacerbated by their selection of support jobs, such as Ninja or Thief, which possess no native MP. Additionally, because Blue Mages are often played as damage dealers, their equipment also lacks MP boosts. *Magical blue magic spells have comparatively high MP costs and casting times and are rarely MP-efficient, restricting their use to highly specific situations in which magical damage is preferred over physical damage. *Prior to the level cap increase, most Blue Magic equivalents of White, Black, Summoning or Ninjutsu magic were overwritten and could not overwrite those spells, regardless of their potency. For instance, Disseverment's Poison effect is far more potent and longer lasting than the Red Mage spell, Poison II, but is still overwritten and cannot overwrite it. *Due to its extreme versatility, Blue Mage requires many more sets of equipment and a much deeper understanding of the job to be played effectively than most other jobs. Support Jobs As a melee-mage hybrid with native access to most, if not all, unique job traits, Blue Mage have a lot of freedom in support job selection, and at present depends primarily on their support job for traits they would have to sacrifice in Blue Magic points to set otherwise. While their versatility allows them to tailor their party function as the situation demands, convention may limit support job selection to two or three common jobs. Ninja Historically, Blue Mage was unable to dual wield and had no native shield or two-handed weapon skill (this has been adjusted subsequent to the level cap increase). In fact, the Immortals confronted throughout the Aht Urhgan missions use only one sword with nothing in their other hand. As a result, access to dual wield from Ninja has been a highly attractive option since its inception. Additionally, access to the Ninjutsu spell, Utsusemi, provides much-needed protection from physical, single-target and area-of-effect attacks while Blue Mage is at the front-line. Finally, the Subtle Blow trait vastly mitigates the amount of Tactical Points blue magic spells give to enemies. Thief Thief has emerged as an extraordinarily popular support job due to the fact that Sneak Attack and Trick Attack process on physical blue magic spells to a devastating effect. Because an attack under the effect of Sneak Attack cannot miss, using powerful, single-hit spells with Sneak Attack and Chain Affinity would produce phenomenal physical damage without the need to even engage the enemy. Furthermore, a successfully landed Trick Attack will transfer all the enmity generated by the attack to the target standing in front of the user. This functionality was especially attractive at 75-cap when the spell Cannonball could be used outside area-of-effect range and still stack with Sneak Attack and Trick Attack, making Blue Mage and Thief among the most powerful damage dealers that did not have to be in close range to deal damage. Since the level cap increase, Thief has become less attractive because of most enemies' low evasion and the addition of powerful, multi-hit or magical blue magic spells. It is still used to this day in conjunction with the sword weaponskill, Chant du Cygne, and the blue magic spell, Benthic Typhoon, to produce an extraordinarily powerful Darkness skillchain. Red Mage The Red Mage support job has emerged primarily since 80-cap due to access to the job ability, Convert. The allure of Red Mage comes from Healing Magic skill, which directly augments healing blue magic spells, and the spells Stoneskin and Phalanx. Additionally, Red Mage provides the Magic Attack Bonus, Magic Defense Bonus, and Fast Cast traits, freeing up many Blue Magic points for other spells. Though Blue Mage has no native Enhancing Magic skill, hampering the effectiveness of of Stoneskin and Phalanx, a good -physical damage taken set of equipment, food, and Cocoon allow Blue Mages to gather low level targets solo without taking significant damage. This functionality is exploited when farming low level enemies and gathering enemies inside of Abyssea, where monsters that have not been touched by players for a lapse of time are set to their lowest level. Red Mage is currently the best support job to use when solo for massing with Charged Whisker and good for a melee-nuker hybrid build. Warrior Warrior provides two significant bonuses to Blue Mage: the Double Attack trait and the Defender job ability. Though Blue Mages have native access to Double Attack, the Warrior support job frees the points used to set it. Defender, stacked with Cocoon and defense food allows Blue Mage to attain over 900 Defense without any external support. Additionally, access to the job abilities, Berserk, Warcry and Aggressor, all contribute to Warrior being a good, versatile support job. It is currently an ideal support job for massing with Charged Whisker when support is present (such as a Red Mage or Scholar) and allows a Chant-du-Cygne Blue Mage to switch to a front-line damage dealer role on the fly. Scholar Scholar provides Light Arts, which boost all of the White Magic-associated magic skills to a B+ rating. As such, the Scholar support job provides the highest Healing Magic skill boost available to Blue Mages. Scholar also provides the Conserve MP trait, Sublimation, and most of the restorative "-na" spells that White Mage can use. Additionally, the Dark Arts provides Drain, Aspir and Dispel. Unfortunately, Scholar possesses no native Magic Attack Bonus or Fast Cast, but access to "Storm" spells can provide a significant boost to spells associated with their element. Generally speaking, Scholar is the most situationally useful support job for a support-nuker hybrid. Samurai Because it is so heavily focused on weapon skills, Samurai has historically been an overlooked support job for Blue Mages. However, recent adjustments to the job ability, Sekkanoki, as well as the introduction of the sword weaponskill, Chant du Cygne, provide strong incentives to set the Samurai support job. Between the Store TP trait and the Sekkanoki and Meditate job abilities, a Blue Mage can use Chant du Cygne far more frequently and produce self-made Light skillchains without using Chain Affinity. Like Dark Knight, Samurai does not provide Blue Mage with much defensive power, the only ability being Third Eye which absorbs one attack once per minute. Dark Knight Dark Knight is a highly uncommon support job due to its lack of defensive abilities and spells and its tendency to generate high levels of enmity—a trait it shares with Blue Mage. The job ability, Souleater, directly enhances both physical strikes and weaponskills as well as physical blue magic, making it an attractive, albeit dangerous job ability for Blue Mages. Additionally, the spell, Stun, the Attack Bonus trait and recent adjustments to Last Resort have made Dark Knight a situationally useful support job, assuming the Blue Mage has enough support to survive. Dancer Dancer is a moderately useful support job because it does not consume MP to cure itself. Drain and especially Aspir Samba are common favorites, and Healing Waltz removes many of the same status ailments as the White Magic "-na" spells and Erase. Dancer has fallen out of favor since the introduction of the spells, Battery Charge and Winds of Promyvion, and the sword weapon skills, Sanguine Blade and Chant du Cygne, as those abilities all mitigate the weaknesses that the Dancer support job originally compensated for. However, its native access to the Dual Wield, Subtle Blow, and Skillchain Bonus job traits make it a competitive support job. White Mage White Mage is commonly used for access to "-na" spells, Erase and Reraise. The Healing Magic skill boost and Divine Seal are also attractive for healing applications. Generally speaking, White Mage is used when blue magic damage is unwelcome or when "power-leveling" lower level characters. Story In Vana'dielian lore, the Blue Mage originated in the Empire of Aht Urhgan generations prior to the present day. During the reign of Emperor Balrahn, an outbreak of alchemically-infused chimeras claimed the life of his son, the crown prince. Enraged by the impotence of his palace guards, the Emperor charged his imperial alchemists with developing a means to defeat the chimeran menace. After countless failed attempts and sacrificed human life, the alchemists developed a successful infusion that allowed the imperial guards assimilate monster essence into their souls. The result was the "Forbidden Arts," Blue Magic, which brought the power of fiends into the hands of men. The Blue Mages are the elite soldiers of the imperial military and sworn enemies of the Ephramadian brigands, the Corsairs. They operate surgically and efficiently and generally move alone or in small numbers. The Immortals command authority in the Aht Urhgan military, as they are seen giving orders to imperial soldiers and hired mercenaries. Furthermore, they are charged with the protection of the Empress, as seen in the Serpent General questline in which Amnaf, a prominent imperial Blue Mage, makes short work of a Mithran assassin's attempt on the Empress's life. The Blue Mages of Aht Urhgan are relinquishing their humanity in exchange for power and Raubahn, the leader of the Immortals, has begun to fear their ever-growing strength. After receiving a commissioned set of Magus armor (revealed to tame the raging "beast" within rising Blue Mages), the player Blue Mage is sent on a suicide mission to dispatch a transfigured Immortal as Raubahn's attempt to eliminate them both. In the final Limit Break quest for Blue Mage, Raubahn fights the player Blue Mage one-on-one, entreating them to "Join the Empire in death." When defeated he commends the player on their victory and encourages them to pursue their path as an adventurer, rather than an Immortal. It is revealed in the missions of the Treasures of Aht Urhgan storyline that the ultimate fate of most Blue Mages is to succumb to the fiend essences they have accumulated in their souls. The end result is transfiguration into a gruesome Soulflayer—no longer human, but a monster. Amnaf ultimately loses herself and transforms into a Soulflayer during the mission, Path of Darkness. Additionally, the imperial vizier, Razfahd, though unable to wield Blue Magic, has been saved from a mortal wound by alchemical techniques similar to the creation of a Blue Mage, which may explain his close relationship with Raubahn. The procedure was believed to have made Razfahd impure with monster blood and cost him the rite of succession; it was passed down to his younger sister, Nashmeira, before their father and previous Emperor, Jalzahn, passed away. During the final mission, Nashmeira's Plea, the player is confronted by Raubahn. When defeated, Raubahn will arise to fight again with enhanced resistances to the damages his body "remembers" from his previous life. Raubahn's signature move is the deadly spell, Eyes On Me, which, prior to the level cap increase, was capable of fully K.O.ing a Galka Paladin at full health with buffs. As a result, it was a common practice to bring a Blue Mage to the fight to counter Raubahn's Eyes On Me by stunning him with Head Butt to halt his casting. His sword weapon skills dealt unnaturally high damage, such as Circle Blade, which could fully K.O. an unbuffed Black Mage within its area-of-effect. After being defeated three times, Raubahn will not reraise, allowing the player and their party to confront Razfahd and the Iron Colossus automaton. Other appearances ''Final Fantasy Trading Card Game Blue Mage appears on cards. BlueMage XI TCG.png|Trading card. BlueMage2 XI TCG.png|Trading card. BlueMage3 XI TCG.png|Trading card. Gallery Blue Mage FFXI Art.jpg|Concept art. Mithra BLU (FFXI).png|A Mithra Blue Mage in Artifact Armor. Blu.png|A comparison of Magus, Mirage and Mavi attire. XI BLU Casting.jpg|A Blue Mage casting. XI BLU Casting2.jpg|A Blue Mage completing her casting. XI Azima Artwork.jpg|Azima, an NPC who can use Blue Magic. Trivia *The Blue Mage Artifact Armor, Magus attire, is an homage to Strago Magus of ''Final Fantasy VI, the first unique, playable practitioner of Blue Magic in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. *It has been admitted in an interview with the Final Fantasy XI development team that they may have unintentionally designed Blue Mage to be too complex. *The uniform of the Immortals consists of three pieces of Magus attire and two pieces of Sipahi armor, which Blue Mages cannot equip. *Though Soulflayers that appear in Aht Urhgan areas are implied to be fallen Blue Mages, their in-game class is actually Black Mage; they cast most standard Black Magic spells and can cast no Blue Magic spells other than Mind Blast, which they ready as TP moves. *The only enemies that are able to cast Blue Magic other than monsters themselves are the imperial Blue Mages confronted in Assault, the Mamool Ja beastmen and a set of Fomor superbosses in Shadowreign-era Vana'diel. *The only non-player character Blue Mages seen outside the Empire of Aht Urhgan are the Bastokan alchemist, Azima, and the imperial exile, Zalsuhm. *Emperor Balrahn is presumed to have been a practitioner of Blue Magic, as he is seen wielding Tizona during Forging a New Myth and appears as a Soulflayer in the Hazhalm Testing Grounds during Einherjar. *The existence of Mavi attire and Mavi seals suggests that Blue Magic may have been developed outside Aht Urhgan in Abyssean Vana'diel. *The only Falchion-type swords that Blue Mages cannot equip are Seiryu's Sword and Ridill, while the only Rapier-type sword they can equip is Lex Talionis. *Blue Mage is the only job that can equip both Homam and Nashira armor. *Prior to the introduction of the Empyrean Weapon line and the Samurai job adjustment, Blue Mage was one of two jobs capable of producing both level 3 Skillchains entirely by itself (the other being Samurai). *Blue Mage is currently the only job capable of casting spells that inflict Magic Defense Down, Knock-back, Terror, and Plague, one of two jobs capable of draining enhancing status effects from enemies (the other being Thief), and one of two jobs that can directly reduce an enemy's current TP (the other being Dark Knight). *Blue Mage is the only job with access to both Light and Darkness-based Sleep and Dispel. Other jobs (such as Red Mage or Bard) have access to spells of only one element. *Blue Mage is the only job that has simultaneous access to unique job traits such as Magic Attack Bonus, Auto-Refresh, Conserve MP, Store TP, and Double Attack, regardless of its support job. *The first defeat of the superboss, Pandemonium Warden, prominently featured Blue Mages in its strategy. Due to the nature of Sneak Attack and Cannonball, Blue Mage is the only job able to continue dealing damage without a pet after being successively KO'd. *Blue Mage is currently the only job capable of inflicting more than 50,000 points of cumulative damage without the use of items or a special job ability; this is due to the fact that area-of-effect blue magic possesses the unusual property that damage and accuracy are unaffected by the number of targets within its area-of-effect. This property is shared with the Ninja and Summoner special job abilities, Mijin Gakure and Astral Flow respectively. Category:Jobs in Final Fantasy XI